The Girl who Remembered
by Star Who
Summary: Part 1 of a series. Set post series six. Rory Williams is astounded when he meets Ava Jackson: a comatose patient who when awakens, has no memories, but of a bowtie, a blue box and a woman with curly hair.


**I do not own Doctor Who. All credit goes to the BBC.  
**

The Girl Who Remembered

Chapter One

As Ava Jackson gazed out of her bedroom window, her arms rested against the windowsill, she barely noticed the sting of the bitter air against her pale skin. The wind was also strong, adding to the icy January air, but Ava's only reaction to it was for her to tuck back a red curl of hair behind her ear, so she could get a proper view of the garden, which, due to being abandoned by her Mother after the Summer when the temperature began to drop, was rather overgrown with weeds. The grass was also now far too long and messy, ivy had spread up the walls of the house and fence at a surprisingly quickening pace, and the plants that Ava's Mother had planted during the Spring of the previous year were if not dying, dead. Despite the fact that the garden was almost covered in foliage, there was barely any greenery at all; the plants were flaked with a crisp layer of frost.

Ava's green eyes trailed across, making sure she at least glanced at every inch of her back garden. She had seen something- and she knew it. Something had been there; it may have only been there for a second, and although Ava had no idea how something could have disappeared so quickly, Ava knew that something, or someone, had been in the garden. She'd seen it, out of the corner of her eye, and although she had no idea what she'd seen, she knew that she had seen _something._

"Ava! Hurry up will you!"

At the sound of her Mother's voice, the teenager's head jerked around to face her bedroom door, and she rolled her eyes. Even if they were to be a few minutes late (which they wouldn't, none of the Jacksons had to be at school or work for another hour, and the drive was only forty minutes long), what would it matter? Sighing, Ava gave the garden one last hard glance, before she pulled her bedroom window shut, closed the curtains, then hurried out of the room and grabbing her school bag on the way out.

"There you are..." Ava's Mother, Anita Jackson, said in exasperation, and slight annoyance, as her daughter appeared in the dining room. "You really need to start getting up earlier if you're struggling to get ready, y'know, love."

Ava rolled her eyes again, looking over at her Father who was standing readily for the door. Unlike her Mother, Ava's Father was a lot more relaxed and patient, which the redhead had always found rather ironic. After all, her Father was a doctor at one of London's hospitals, and if he was late for work, there could actually be consequences, whereas her Mother was a geography teacher, and if she was late for work, the most that could happen would be missing taking her class's register- and Ava knew her Mother hated her tutor group, she just couldn't say so as she attended the same school that her Mother taught at.

"Right, sorry," Ava merely shrugged, she never bothered disagreeing with either parent; getting into a family argument always took up more time than it was worth, whereas if she were to apologise- no matter how sincere the apology was- it would be immediately forgotten about.

Tutting slightly, Anita shook her head and made her way over to the front door. "It's sorted now, I suppose. Now, quickly, get your coat so we can go."

Grunting beneath her breath, the teenager grabbed her jacket from the coat stand adjacent to the door, and hooked it over her arms, which were folded against her chest. Ava had always felt- no, not felt, _known_- that her parents, her Mother in particular was very protective of her and she felt very limited as to what she was allowed to do when compared to her friends, and others her age. Ava had only just turned fourteen seventeen days ago, but unlike her parents had promised, no rules, boundaries or curfews had been changed and it made her feel like a child much younger than she really was. At the start of the academic year, Ava's parents had only begun to let their daughter go to a friend's house whose parents they weren't close with, with only a last minute text to let them know, but she still had to be back at the house at five for dinner, and Ava still wasn't allowed to the shopping centre or cinema on weekends unless she was in a group of three or more friends, who her parents deemed 'sensible' for her to be out with. In addition, Ava was the only student in her year at school who didn't walk or take the bus to school. Her parents had always put it down to being able to save money, but Ava knew it wasn't the case; if her parents actually allowed her to go out with friends they'd drive her there themselves, instead of letting her take the bus.

Ava knew the reasons behind it. When she was younger, they'd always go on about how they were so lucky to have had Ava, and how they were told that they'd never be able to have children, but then they had Ava and they couldn't believe their luck. When Ava had complained to her godmother that Christmas, she'd received a reply of something along the lines of "it's only because they're scared they'll lose you" and "other parents don't always know the fear of not having children", but to Ava, it seemed like no excuse and she wished for freedom. A lot of it.

She'd told her Mother that previous Summer that after sixth form, she was going to go off and travel the world for a year or two. Her Mother had seemed rather anxious and put off that her daughter was willing to go off like that, and although she said nothing more than "that sounds nice, love", Ava knew what her Mother was thinking, but it didn't change her mind. After all, then she'd finally have a choice in what she did everyday, and that was to travel. Ava didn't want to be stuck in London forever, and the annual holiday to an ugly cottage in Wales wasn't enough of a diverse culture for her.

It was rather slippery on the ground that morning; ice. It hadn't yet snowed that winter, but it had rained an awful lot, meaning that the below freezing weather during the night froze all the puddles of rain water over, and the driveways, paths and roads were all dotted with rings of icy lakes. After half-sliding across the driveway (and being told to stop by her Mother) Ava climbed in the car, she contemplated bringing up the subject of how being allowed to take the bus to school would mean that neither parents would be late for work if she were running late, but it didn't seem worth it. Despite the nagging only minutes ago, both parents were in relatively good moods and changing it didn't seem worth it. They wouldn't change her minds. Ava was beginning to wonder if they ever would. Instead, her thoughts went back to the something she had certainly seen in the garden just then.

It was a strange feeling that Ava couldn't describe, but strangely one that she found vaguely familiar.

It was more than just the confusion or embarrassment of thinking you'd seen something when you hadn't, it was like seeing something and then unseeing it. Almost as if she'd forgotten what she had seen... But it wasn't like forgetting. It was knowing you'd forgotten something. The thing that struck Ava the most, though, was how recognisable the feeling was. It was so familiar it didn't seem as frightening as it should have. Then again, that made it all the more frightening.

The car drove along the roads on the way to Coal Hill Secondary first, which would where Ava and her Mother would get out, so Ava's Father could carry onto the hospital for work. Ava lent on the window, watching the tyres of the car skid along the icy patches that were left scattered across the salted gravel, whilst half listening to someone ramble on about supermarket food prices on the radio. Her parents were talking about something or other, but Ava had no idea what. She'd possibly heard her name mentioned once or twice, but if it was anything _bad _about her, then they wouldn't be discussing it in front of her. They probably were under the impression that she was part of the conversation, but had nothing to say on the current topic, as she'd normally be joining in on the morning conversations. Despite the fact that they were very protective parents, they weren't particularly good when noticing that something was wrong, and although technically nothing was wrong, Ava's quietness would suggest so, especially since she was always so chatty- even if that was just because she was up to debate her rights of going a friend's house after school, and coming home after five.

As Ava's eyes trailed along the road, she watched the black tyre slide onto another frozen puddle (was this the twelfth rink, perhaps?) and thought nothing of it.

A sudden jerk of the redhead's tight seat belt yanked Ava backwards and back onto the seat. There was no time for her to process the strong ache in her neck that the heavy impact had left as her neck, before another push forced Ava, this time, forward and back onto the window. The side of her head bumped hard against the glass. She felt dizzy. Too dizzy for the only cause to be a small bump.

It could have only been several moments, but it felt much longer, before Ava realised that it was the car that was spinning; slipping against the smooth, clear ice at such a speed, she could only just feel it. The rush went to her head. Her vision flickered like a light bulb. The world spun around her at such a speed that everything blurred into a fuzzy grey. Her Father swore loudly. Her Mother screamed. Ava said nothing. The grey had turned to black.

-X-X-X-

Rory Williams walked into a locker room with a heavy sigh, leaning against the wall and running a hand through his hair. It had been a tough morning on the entire hospital; being a doctor down when there was a severe accident like this was always an issue. The winter months were always hard on the emergency services, especially when the roads were as icy as they were at the moment, but it didn't stop the nurse from feeling_ something_ when people could not be saved; one of the hospitals best doctors and his wife included.

Another one of the nurses came pacing into the small room at the back of the hospital. She, too, looked exhausted and guilty, like Rory. She gave him a small smile, as if to say 'I know it's hard' and Rory smiled back at her slightly, nodding his head once.

"I'm guessing you've heard about the Jackson's by now?" The female nurse, Rory knew her name was Tara, assumed. "If you haven't been helping with the family, that is."

"Yeah, I was in the room when Doctor Jackson... Passed." The word was almost too hard to say. Rory had known and worked with the man since he'd first started med school. "I don't think anyone could have helped him, y'know." He sat down with another sigh, placing his palms together and the tips of his fingers to his mouth.

Tara nodded, pursing her lips as if to think what to say. Really, she was so exhausted from the stress of the past few hours that she wasn't even sure if she could speak. She sat down next to Rory, pulling her scrubs hat off to reveal a messy, short, blonde cut.

"The Mother and daughter died when the car turned. The daughter was resuscitated; I was assisting in on her surgery. It was successful, but they don't think she'll make it through the next two hours..." Tara explained,drifting on at the end. Rory knew all of this, of course, but he also knew that the nurse was only saying it to get it out. It was how people in the emergency services stopped breaking down when things went wrong, and, so, Rory replied with the events of his morning.

"Survived the crash. Died in hospital..." That was all he could say on the matter. He paused. "Y'know, I've met his daughter. Ava, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Ava Star Jackson- I had to search through her record."

"Steve and his wife brought her to mine and Amy's wedding reception. I remember, because she felt ill, or something, and they had to leave early."

"Hmm..." Tara murmured in response. "You know, maybe it's better if she doesn't make it. Both her parents are gone. None of us are gonna' have to want to break that news to her. The kid was just on her way to school..."

"Maybe." Rory shrugged. "Then again, she's a kid with her whole life ahead of her. Hopefully, that is."


End file.
